WAVE-WASHED SAILORS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 162, 11 July 1928, Page 5

WAVE-WASHED SAILORS.

ULIMAROA IN STORM.

TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATH.

HOVE TO OFF NORTH CAPB.

PASSENGERS' GRAPHIC STORIES.

Tossed by tumultuous seas from the moment Sydney Heads were left behind, the Huddart-Parker steamer Ulimarot, with a decided list to port, dropped anchor in Auckland Harbour shortly before 8 o'clock this morning, 24 hours behind schedule time. The vessel was making her first voyage to New Zealand for several months, having been laid-up in Australian waters on account of the cooks' dispute. The passengers and crew tell graphic stories of the severe buffeting the ship experienced, and of green seas that washed the decks and inundated cabins. "It is the worst trip I have had for years," said Captain Wyllie when interviewed. "We dropped into it from the moment we left Sydney, and had a heavy sea and a strong sou'-westerly gale to contend with all the way across. We hove-to last night for an hour off the North Cape. Fortunately nothing 'busted' on the trip across except the carrying away of a canvas screen cn deck." Asked what had caused the list that had developed on the voyage across, Captain Wyllie said he imagined it was the coal. Terrifying Experience. "I was glad when daylight came after

the first night out," said one passenger in describing his experiences. "It was a terrifying time. The vessel started to roll coming out of Sydney Heads, and I thought then we were in for a rough trip. And we got it. The seas were washing over the rails. I was frightened, and they were all frightened. That is no exaggeration, I assure you," he added. There were several Aucklandcrs amongst the passengers, including Messrs. E. R. Greenfield, C. B. Plummer, and £. J. Prendergast, and all are agreed that the voyage across was the roughest sea trip they had ever experienced. Mr. Greenfield said that both going to Sydney on the Niagara and returning on the Ulimaroa he had experienced bad trips. On the first night of the homeward voyage waves dashed over the vessel, which was tossed about like a cockleshelL Mr. Pummer said that on the first day out several of the cabins were flooded, and portmanteaux and luggage were floating about on the floors. Several of the passengers were saturated by the water that poured into the vessel. "It is the worst trip I have had, excepting round the Cape of Good Hope, but I daresay they have had worse," he added. T have been twenty-eight times to Sydney, but this was the roughest trip I have had." Another New Zealander who has travelled extensively confirmed thjs opinion. He had never seen seas' as big as those through which the vessel had ploughed. What the Crew Said. On the first night out heavy seas washed a sailor against the rails. He was rendered unconsciotu for several minutes, and received abrasions to the face and body. He refused to give any of his experiences, but another sailor volunteered the statement that some of the men were very lucky not to have been washed overboard. The carpenter and (he bo'sun had a very narrow shave, ' and it was the general opinion that the : ship had never encountered a rbugher voyage. "We had a list all the time of ten degrees " said a member of the crew, "and with the heavy roll we developed this must have been increased to about 35 degrees. You can well understand what it meant for i. on deck. One heavy pea ripped up the iron casing over the steam pipes alongside No. 3 hold, and threatened to wash some of us overboard. It was a case of hanging on by your eyebrows .'" _ The Ulimaroa has on deck a large consignment of fruit, and the cases showed signs this morning of having shifted to some extent, and had a tumbled appear, ance generally.